ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Wednesday’s Consumer Investigation is a warning for anyone who loves a baby. News10NBC’s Deanna Dewberry has found that Amazon has had at least six baby products recalled in just the last five months.

The products were recalled due to serious risks like suffocation and fire hazards. Of the products sold on amazon, 60% of them are third-party sellers — independent businesses, many of which are international.

Those recalled baby products were all sold by third-party companies based in China.

To be fair, Amazon’s marketplace has close to 350 million products. And while the company spokesman told Deanna it has multiple tools to screen sellers and their products, experts say ultimately the onus is on us to research before we click the buy button.

“It’s incredibly frustrating, again, because the parents are assuming these things are safe because they’re being sold for babies, that’s a reasonable explanation and expectation,” says Dr. Elizabeth Murray, a URMC pediatrician.

The unsafe products Deanna found on Amazon have frustrated pediatricians and consumer safety experts alike. The bubble bear crib mattress was most recently recalled because the Consumer Product Safety Commission says it’s a fire hazard. Mind you, flammability standards for mattresses have been in place in the U.S. since 1984 and were toughened in 2006. 

 So, how does a product like this make it into the American market?

“It’s not surprising that we’re finding more and more of these products online,” says Oriene Shin with the Consumer Reports’ Policy Counsel. “It’s really easy to find these products. It’s really easy to find these products for sale.”

She’s right. Two weeks before that mattress recall, the spring spirit and biloban pack and play mattresses was recalled because the CPSC says they’re a suffocation hazards. Again, it’s exclusively sold on Amazon. 

But this consumer advocate believes the problems on Amazon are not unique..

“There needs to be a better way of monitoring – one to prevent these products from getting onto these platforms, but two a really quick and easy way of removing these products when a problem is discovered,” says Shin.

Deanna reached out to Amazon, and a spokesman argued it does have mechanisms to keep dangerous products off the site, and sent the following statement:

“We require all products offered in our store to comply with applicable laws, regulations and Amazon policies. We ensure our selection meets industry-accepted standards, and we develop innovative tools to prevent unsafe products from being listed. We continuously monitor our store, and if we discover a product was undetected by our automated checks, we address the issue immediately and refine our controls. We take action to maintain a safe selection for our customers, including removing noncompliant products, and outreach to sellers, manufacturers, and government agencies for additional information, when appropriate.”

Nevertheless, Newsweek published an article in December about what it called the “explosion of unsafe baby products” being sold on Amazon pointing to the recalls of banned crib bumpers, and a four-in-one highchair — both exclusively sold on Amazon.

Newsweek’s story was published just two weeks after Deanna’s investigation of unsafe baby loungers on Amazon.  

“A lot of loungers have those really plush rims around the edges, where baby’s face can roll into or turn into and create a really, really unsafe place for baby,” explains Shin.

That was the case for the Youcaa baby lounger sold exclusively on Amazon that was recalled in November, and the Miracle Baby lounger recalled later that month for the same reason. 

Proving, once again, parents can not assume that because a product is for sale in the U.S. means it’s safe for your baby.

Before you buy any product, you can check for recalls here. The American Academy of Pediatrics has great recommendations as well. If you find any product that you believe is unsafe, it’s important to report it to saferproducts.gov.

Amazon would like you to report any product directly to them as well on their customer service line at 1-888-280-4331.